New Delhi: Thousands of commuters traveling in the Delhi Metro on the occasion of Rakshabandhan suffered a distressing experience as services between Huda City Centre in Gurugram and Chhatarpur metro station in south Delhi on the Yellow Line were hit for nearly three hours on Sunday. Commuters stuck in the coaches took to social media to complain about the inconvenience on a day the Delhi Metro informed that it would run extra trains to handle the increased footfall on Raksha Bandhan.
Moreover, the harrowed commuters complained of claustrophobia inside the packed coaches. However, in a video which went viral massively, passengers were seen besides the metro track towards the platform after a train got stuck at the Guru Dronacharya metro station in Gurugram. In another video, a huge crowed was seen below Qutub Minar metro station.
Another user shared a photo of a huge line at the Chhatarpur metro station, saying that it was a stampede waiting to happen. "Is there any plan to handle such crowds on holidays?" the user asked. Train services on Yellow Line (Line-2) between Chattarpur and Huda City centre section were affected on Sunday from 9.55 am to 12.40 pm due to the problem in Overhead Wire (OHE) leading to tripping of power supply in this section, said a DMRC official.
"Its a heavy crowed here, people are suffering... trapped into the metro coaches and the stations. Please take immediate action," commuter tweets. Another commuter tweets, "Delhi Metro spreading widely but the operation going into worse; everyday having trouble in various installations as well and sluggish initiative on maintenance! Ultimately, this will be in the shape of Indian railways."
As a result, passengers from four trains (At Guru Dronacharay, Sikander pur- up/down, IFFCO Chowk) which were in this section had to be deboarded, official said. There after, physical identification for the exact location of defective overhead wire was carried out by maintenance team by walking on foot in the section, official added.
"Once the affected location was identified at 1200 hrs, the repair was done within 15 minutes and OHE supply to the affected section was restored at 12.15 and gradually the normal services were resumed at 12.40 pm. During this period, train services on the rest of the Line-2 section from Samayapur Badli to Qutab Minar were running normal," official said.
"Today's OHE issue involved the breaking of a copper split pin inserted in the insulator meant to support return current wire. This has resulted into short circuit of earth wire with 25 KV live conductor," said Anuj Dayal, DMRC spokesperson.
He also said that the problem could be identified through careful physical identification of each and every OHE mast of affected 6.6 km long section from Sultanpur to Guru Dronacharya station. "That is why it required OHE patrolling teams around 2 hours to identify the exact affected OHE mast. Once it was identified, the repair was done within 15 minutes. However, a drive has been launched for identifying and replacing all copper pins of these insulators with stainless steel pins for better longevity. The work is likely to be completed in next 5 months," DMRC spokesperson Dayal added.